Tennessee football: Hendon Hooker’s rank among Vols’ Heisman robberies

Johnny Majors when playing for Tennessee in the 1950’s.
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Johnny Majors

Running back 1956

Winner: Paul Hornung

What stands out here is not that Johnny Majors didn’t win the Heisman, although he did finish second. It’s the egregious nature of Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Paul Hornung winning the Heisman. Hornung remains the only Heisman winner to be on a team with a losing record, and this team wasn’t just bad.

Notre Dame went 2-8. Statistically speaking, Hornung completed 59 of 111 passes for 917 yards and three touchdowns with 13 interceptions. Now, to be fair, stats were different back then, and he also ran for 420 yards and another six touchdowns, giving him 10 total touchdowns and 13 picks on the year.

However, Majors threw for 552 yards and ran for another 549 yards while scoring 12 total touchdowns with only three interceptions. He also led Tennessee football to a 10-0 regular season record, a No. 2 finish and the SEC Championship, so he deserved it over Hornung.

The reason he is here and not higher, though, is that Jim Brown should’ve really been the Heisman winner. Brown had 1,042 yards from scrimmage and 14 touchdowns along with 76 passing yards and another score, and he led Syracuse to a 7-2 record. It should’ve at least come down to Majors and Brown. Hornung winning it was highway robbery.